Garland County, Arkansas, Goodspeed BiographiesPage 3

Dr. J. T. Fairchild

Dr. J. T. Fairchild is owner of the famous Fairchild Potash Sulphur Springs, located seven miles southeast of Hot Springs, and one mile from Lawrence, a station on the Little Rock Railroad. This celebrated health and pleasure resort, which has gained a national reputation, has been for the past five years under the able management and proprietorship of Mr. E. E. Woodcock, a son-in-law of Dr. Fairchild. The grounds are fitted up with everything imaginable to make them pleasant and attractive for the hundreds of guests who gather there at all seasons. An elegant hotel is found, with bath-house, billiard-room and bowling-alley, dancing-halls and spring-houses, from which Cupid has played many pranks with the susceptible. The hotel also contains a postoffice, and has telephone connections with Hot Springs and Little Rock. The scenery is beautiful, the mountains forming a picturesque background, and the climate is healthful and salubrious. It is a paradise for hunters, as game is found in plenty, and the piscatorial artist has his hands full when fishing in the Ouachita River. The wide reputation of these springs is constantly increasing, as stories of the wonderful cures performed are brought to notice. It is estimated that 10,000 people visit these annually for physical relief, irrespective of the number who come for pleasure. When Dr. Fairchild first became their possessor, in 1849, the accommodations consisted of only a few rude log-houses, but through his persistent energy, and a desire to benefit the public, he has succeeded in making it one of the most noted and attractive resorts in the Southwest, and by his continued efforts, in conjunction with Mr. Woodcock, its present proprietor, it will in a few years be a suburb of Hot Springs. Dr. Fairchild is a pleasant and interesting gentleman, an untiring worker, and a man of resources for every emergency. He is well known throughout Central Arkansas,
where he has resided for forty years, and is one of its most influential and respected citizens. The Doctor's birth-place is in the Hudson River country, New York State, and he was born in 1815. The youngest of four children born to his parents, he was reared on a farm until attaining his sixteenth year, being educated in the common schools and the village academy, after which he studied medicine for several years, with the intention of being a druggist. In the year 1845 he came to Arkansas, intending to enter the drug business, and brought his mother with him, his father having died the year before. He located at Batesville, where his mother died the following year; but instead of following the drug business, he commenced practicing medicine. He remained at Batesville for two years, and then moved to Camden, where he continued his practice until the year 1849. The following year he came to Hot Springs, and since that time has been residing at which is now known as the Fairchild Potash Sulphur Springs, where he owns about 320 acres of land in connection with the springs. For twenty years he practiced his profession with great success, and at the end of that time abandoned it. Since then he has lived a somewhat retired life. Dr. Fairchild was married, in 1847, to Elizabeth, a daughter of Joseph Hardin, of Kentucky, who was one of the earliest settlers of Lawrence County, Ark., and afterward one of its wealth and respected citizens. Mr. Hardin was sheriff of Lawrence County at a period when the nearest place of imprisonment to which he could take his prisoners was at Little Rock. His father, Benjamin Hardin, was a notable man in the early history of Kentucky, and an associate of Davy Crockett. Mrs. Fairchild, a woman of accomplishment, died October 1, 1860, a devout Christian. Three daughters were born to Dr. and Mrs. Fairchild, of whom only one is yet living, Fannie, wife of Mr. E. E. Woodcock.
In politics Dr. Fairchild is a Democrat, as were his father and grandfather before him. His parents were Benjamin and Fran-Sina (Mills) Fairchild, of Bedford and Chatham, N. Y., respectively, the father residing in his native State all his life, and dying in 1844. He was a well-to-do farmer and dairyman, and of English-Irish origin. Many of his family are yet living, and scattered throughout the country, some of them attaining great prominence in public and professional life.

William Farr was born in Henry County, Ala., July 14, 1837, and was the son of Insell Farr and Narcusus McCloud, natives of Edgecombe County, S. C., and Henry County, Ala., respectively. The former was born August 12, 1781, and the latter June 19, 1816. He was of Scotch-Irish descent, and was a blacksmith, wood-worker and silversmith by trade, being also engaged in the mercantile business in Henry County, Ala., for a short time. Emigrating from South Carolina to Georgia, he carried on blacksmithing, and later went to Alabama in 1830. In 1850 he moved from Alabama to Florida. His first wife was Mary Smith, of Georgia, who, became the mother of ten children: Tillman, Anderson, Larkin, James, Columbus, Toliver, Mary, Margaret, Darkes and Susan. Mrs. Farr's death occurred about 1830. In 1835 Mr. Farr married Miss McCloud, who bore a family of nine children, five boys and four girls: William (the subject of this article), Insell, James, Basil, Daniel, Sarah, Rachel, Lizzie and Lydia. Mr. Farr was in the Indian War of 1835. His death occurred in Washington County, Fla., in 1857, his wife dying in Jackson County, that State, in 1862. William Farr began work for himself by hewing timber, after which he followed the carpenter's trade, and was subsequently employed as overseer of an extensive plantation in Florida. He was educated in the common schools of Florida, where he was afterward married to Miss Sarah L. Murphy, daughter of Batt Murphy, in 1868. They have eight children, four boys and four girls: William T., James I., Lydia L., Nannie E., Daniel J., Martha N., John S., and Mary J. Upon leaving Florida Mr. Farr came to Arkansas, April 24, 1871, and located in what is at this time Garland County, where he bought a quarter-section of land, thirty-five acres of it now being under cultivation. Mrs. Farr was born in Georgia in 1849. Her father married Elizabeth
Joiner, also a native of Georgia, in 1841, and they became the parents of five children, three boys and two girls: James, Stephen, Charles, Sarah and Martha (wife of W. D. L. Boswell). Mr. Murphy died in Georgia in 1852. Mr. Farr is a member of the Masonic order, and he and his wife are both members of the Missionary Baptist Church. Mrs. Farr is an active worker and member of the Union Temperance Society. They are well known and highly respected hereabouts.

Dr. Sidney W. Franklin, Hot Springs, Ark. It is the prerogative of the physician to relieve or alleviate the ailments to which suffering humanity is prone, and as such he deserves the most grateful consideration of all. A prominent physician and surgeon, who by his own abilities has attained distinction in his profession, is Dr. Sidney W. Franklin. This gentleman was born in Columbus, Miss., April 22, 1843, and was educated at Union University, Murfreesboro, Tenn., also graduating in medicine from the University of New York, in 1861. He was then a surgeon for four years in the Confederate service, being in charge of the hospitals at Columbia, Tenn., and at Raymond, Miss., and was also in the field. In 1865 he located at Mobile, but removed from that place to Columbus, Miss., in 1866, and thence to Hot Springs, in 1871. His specialty is diseases of the genito-urinary organs. He was a member of the Mississippi State Medical Society, and was secretary of the Lowndes County Medical Society of Mississippi. He is a member of the Arkansas State Medical Society and secretary of the Hot Springs and Garland County Medical Society. He was elected county surgeon of Lowndes County, Miss., for 1867 and 1868. In January, 1870, his marriage to Miss Kate, daughter of John C. [could be an O] Daugherty, of Memphis, Tenn., took place, and the result of this union has been one child, John, who is now a law student of the University of Virginia. The Doctor is a Royal Arch Mason. His parents, Sidney S. and Ann E. (Campbell) Franklin, were natives of New York and Tennessee, respectively. They were married in Mississippi, and reared a large family of children, only four now living: Dr. S. W., Thomas, Cornell and Malcomb. The father, a graduate of the University of New York, was also a graduate of Yale College, as well as of an institution in Paris. He was a very noted physician, and died in
Columbus, Miss., in 1885.

Capt. C. W. Fry, superintendent of Hot Springs Bath House Association, Hot Springs, Ark. Among all classes and in every condition of life are those who excel in whatever they undertake, whether of a professional, agricultural or commercial nature, and no matter how disagreeable the outlook on starting life, they are sure to eventually reach the front and receive a share of the honor and credit due them. Capt. Fry was born in Orange County, Va., May 1, 1842, and is the son of Philip S. and Pamelia M. (Anderson) Fry, the former born in 1801, and died in 1859, and the latter born in 1810, and died in 1872. They reared a family of six sons. Capt. C. W. Fry attended the academy at Orange Court House, and graduated from that institution in 1859. He then came to Arkansas, taught school in Chicot County for eighteen months, and then returned to his native State, where he donned his suit of gray and entered the Confederate service as lieutenant of field artillery. He was promoted to the rank of captain in the fall of 1862, and in the spring of 1865 he was raised to the rank of major of artillery. After the close of the war he returned to Chicot County, Ar., engaged as civil engineer and was employed by the planters in the construction of levees to protect them from the overflow of the Mississippi River. He remained thus engaged until 1878, when he came to Hot Springs, and embarked in the real estate business. He was appointed circuit court clerk by the Governor in 1879 to fill an unexpired term, and since that time he has been engaged in his present position. He married Fannie Davies in 1867, but she died in 1870. He has two children: Fannie D. and William.

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